On Tuesday 28th April 2020 at 15:07 my world came to a complete stop. At 15:07 my beloved beautiful wife and soulmate Elena drew her last breath and her life of 40 years came to an end in our home.

I met Elena on the 1st of June 2013, by the 5th of December 2015 we were blissfully married as we continued our wonderful life together.

Elena was beautiful, loving, with a kind heart, a joyous laughter and with a cutting edge humor, an incredible smile.

She appreciated everything around her and was proud
of her new life, she was a Lady with class.

Elena loved my children and longed for her own with me.

THEN OUR LIFE CHANGED!

On the 1st June 2017, Elena was diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Colon Cancer. There were large cancerous tumors in both lobes of her liver as well as one in her large intestine.

Our world came crashing down around us. After the initial shock we vowed to fight together and beat back the disease leaving no stone unturned. The outlook diagnosis was not favorable, max six to twelve months of life left to live.

Elena and I were determined to endure the bad days and live fully the good days together.

Six chemotherapy sessions later we flew to Hospital Paul Brousse in Paris.

A brave but terrified Elena underwent two long duration operations where the right lobe of her liver was removed and her left lobe cleaned of micro tumors.

Five weeks in Paris to recover and back to chemotherapy for another four rounds.

Christmas of 2017 was a time to celebrate, Elena’s liver had grown and was functioning perfectly.

Her confidence grew, she was no longer afraid of simple or complicated medical procedures, she endured the chemo side affects with incredible bravery and stamina… Never Ever Complaining….

In February/ March of 2018 it was time to return to Paris, to the same hospital, to remove part of her large intestine where the original tumor was.

The two months spent in hospital was a nightmare for Elena and all of us around her… Τhe night she returned to her hospital room, having been in intensive care after the removal of part of her large intestine, her intestine ruptured at the stoma.. The resultant seepage of intestinal waste into her abdomen caused peritonitis with the follow on danger of general sepsis. A deadly condition if not dealt with immediately.

Elena was back in surgery, twelve hours later, her amazing surgeon reattached her intestine, managing to avoid an external plastic bag stoma for waste.

However, her recovery this time was slow with weeks of antibiotics, scans, paracentesis, heart arrhythmia, tube feeding and general fatigue… Elena endured it all bravely.

Summer of 2018 was magical, Elena was cancer free, gained weight and looked her wonderful self, we travelled as we did every summer and celebrated her 39th birthday all together.

During one of our many many trips to London, at the beginning of September 2018, Elena complained of sudden itching in her lower extremities. She was diagnosed with a new tumor in her bile duct below her liver before her pancreas. The itching became so intense that she was causing bleeding to her legs from scratching so deeply to alleviate the itching… Bile was building up in her body.

Elena now had to undergo five implants and MRCP procedures of stents into her bile duct to alleviate the effects, they were successful but each time required general anesthesia, more travel to Paris was needed for consultation and also diagnosis.

All along Elena was undergoing chemotherapy with a multitude of side effects.

She never gave up hope, or the will to live.

We decided that the new tumor had to go. Her surgeon in Paris was called upon once more to perform this time a complicated risky operation.

He advised 1/3 chance of success, 1/3 possibility of not being able to do anything… and 1/3 possibility of serious life threatening complications.. The time allotted to surgery was ten to twelve hours!

Sweet success, six hours were needed to successfully remove the tumor and re-attach the bile duct… No more stents required… However, her recovery was painfully slow once again, no food was able to pass through for two weeks and Elena was wasting away.

We were happy that there was no more cancer….. Or so we thought!

I was called into the surgeon’s office and advised to leave for home and for Elena to resume chemotherapy as soon as possible… There were new cancerous legions in the remaining part of her liver.

Elena lived for another year after that, we spent two months in a final last ditched effort to cure her in Lausanne Switzerland but to no avail.

I never believed I would lose my partner and love in life even till the last minute…but Elena had accepted her fate having endured the denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance of her fate… She wanted to live so much to see her nephews and nieces grow, to be next to her sister, mother and father and to love and look after me and my children like no other.

Elena showed us how to endure and accept and inspire and love and adore her family and good friends around her in spite of enduring three years of hardship and pain…. She died in my arms at home as she wanted, with her mother, sister and father by her side.

HER SMILE, LOVE AND LAST HUG
WILL FOLLOW ME TILL THE END OF MY DAYS…